


where the light gets in

by rebelsquad (wolveheart)



Series: sorry for the dirt in your mouth [4]
Category: The Pacific (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Domesticity, M/M, the easier you'll find reading this as a standalone, the more desperate you are for happy content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2019-03-22 15:25:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13767021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolveheart/pseuds/rebelsquad
Summary: This is not their field, their field is miles and miles and fifteen years from here. He has a dog and a house and hasn’t played soccer on a field by the river while the sun goes down in years, and he’s happy regardless.





	where the light gets in

**Author's Note:**

> there's a longer college installment in the works but i had to take a break from that to get this done, my soul needed it. based on an ask i sent claire like two months ago. no plot just happiness. the title has no affiliation with any songs or other works, i didn't know someone else had already said them this way. unbetad except for by myself cause im problematique that way.
> 
> also huuuuuge thanks to everyone who left kudos on the other parts of this series, and especially to those who left comments, they made my day and i appreciate it so so much <3 hope this one is enjoyable too!

 

 

Eddie wakes up before sunrise.

The red letters on the clock on the nightstand read 6:43am. No alarm. As every Sunday, it takes a few seconds of thinking whether it’s still the weekend or a school day.

He hasn’t finalized his lesson plan for the 4th graders. It’s Sunday.

In the dark, he swings his legs over the edge of the bed, bare feet onto soft carpet. Careful about the blanket, don’t want Andy to wake up from cold air seeping into his cocoon. Listening in for a moment, but Andy’s breathing is deep and even. Still asleep.

As he pads downstairs and into the laundry room to get his sweatpants and thin sweatshirt, Eddie’s mind wanders from one lazy thought to another. Laundry day is becoming an urgent necessity. They need eggs. Hat for the run this morning? No, should be fine, forecast says it’s warm for October, he didn’t need one last week and it was colder then.

Luna joins him when he makes his way to the kitchen to drink some water, wagging her tail excitedly. With her nose she gently nudges him in the back of his thigh when she follows him to the sink.

“Me too,” Eddie murmurs, patting her on the back and running his hand through her soft golden fur.

He cuddles her some more, taking sips from his glass of water and looking out the window every once and then. The window faces east.

It’s quiet in the house, and the sky turns purple-pink.

“Time to go,” he says to Luna, who knows what’s going on as soon as he gets up out of his chair. He can’t tie his shoes fast enough for her taste; she huffs, tail wagging hard enough to move her entire body.

Eddie smiles and rises to his feet, stretching. “Someone’s got enough energy for the three of us, huh?” He suppresses a yawn.

She proves him right by bolting out the door as soon as he opens it for her.

It’s understandable. Their morning runs are one of the things Eddie enjoys most in his life right now. The quiet of the morning. Seeing the sun rise and painting the sky in different shades of pink, red, yellow, purple, no morning sky the same. No other person in sight. The smell of damp grass and earth and fields and water when they pass by the river, scent of nature waking up and stretching upwards to greet the day. The sound of his feet on the ground and his breathing, his lungs expanding and his mind settling into his body.

It’s easy to get up for this. For him, at least. Andy would rather eat the socks he wears for soccer before getting out of bed before seven.

Eddie locks the door, hides the key in the pot of slightly wilted geraniums on the porch, and follows Luna into the fields.   

 

:

 

They follow the river for a while, running with the steady stream on their right and the rising sun at their back.

Luna startles a family of ducks that rests on the small sandy shoreline, and she barks happily when they scramble into the water, quacking at the offense. Proud of her deed, Luna falls back in step by Eddie’s side.

He shakes his head, amused despite himself.

It’s exactly what he needs, the peace and calm of this kind of morning. The thoughts of the past hectic week pass through his mind idly, just dropping by, work and parent-teacher conferences and a broken down car and a flu attack on his mom circle once and then bleed into the ground with each step he takes.

He breathes deeply, feels the cool air fill his lungs, and keeps going.  

 

:

 

They take a short break where the line of trees to their left opens up into a field of short grass and clover.

Eddie comes to a halt in the middle of it, catching his breath. Same as Luna, who stays at his side for a moment, panting. Then she huffs and makes her way to the water to drink, slobbering loudly.

Pushing up the sleeves of his sweatshirt a bit, Eddie turns around his own axis to take in the field. Feels like the trees have become a shade more red and orange and brown since last week. The birds are still singing, though, and it didn’t rain the past week so the ground is dry instead of the muddy disaster it had been the year prior.

Doesn’t really feel like fall yet. Then again, Eddie never wants it to feel like fall.

His eyes fall on the wooden construct by the treeline from where they came. His brain registers it as a self-made soccer goal, maybe five feet high and weather-bleached, before Eddie really understands it. In his chest, his breath stutters with the memory of being a long-limbed teenager. Of sliding over grass and dirt to stop the black-white ball before an imaginary goal line. Of Andy’s hair shimmering gold in the sun.

With his thumb, he touches the slim golden band around his ring finger, and exhales long and deep.

No.This is not their field, their field is miles and miles and fifteen years from here. He has a dog and a house and hasn’t played soccer on a field by the river while the sun goes down in years, and he’s happy regardless. He runs his thumb over the ring again, the gold smooth and cool under his finger.

Luna nudges his calf with her wet muzzle, startling the remnants of memories of scraped knees and ringing laughter out of his mind.

Eddie leans down to pet her, the soft thin fur between her ears and the coarser fur along her back. She wags her tail.

“Yes,” he agrees, “we should get home.” He pats her gently on the shoulder, then straightens and starts moving to where they came from. He’s picked the circular route but they still have to backtrack half a mile to get to the right path.

They walk past the goal and Eddie can’t not. He reaches out and lays his palm on the crossbar, feels the rough wood under his skin, just briefly.

He lets go and begins to jog again; homewards.

 

:

 

It’s no longer so hot even in the morning that Eddie comes home drenched in sweat. He still takes his sweet time showering, washing the sweat and dirt off his body and humming quietly.

There’s no real point in being quiet, he’s planning to wake Andy up once he’s done. But there is a peace this morning he doesn’t want to disturb. They’ll have time for loud singing and knocking over the shampoo bottles and Luna’s barking on another day.

He’s pulled on his clean sweatpants and is already holding the shirt in his hand when he realizes that he grabbed Andy’s NASA T-Shirt by accident. It’s not the fact that it’s Andy’s item of clothing, at this point he barely blinks at that. It’s the fact that this is the second time this day that the past cast its light onto the present.

“And it’s not even ten,” Eddie mutters to himself, before pulling the shirt over his head. Just like the one Andy owned when he was seventeen that Eddie stole a couple of times. Just like back then, Eddie can’t fill it out the same way Andy does. This too is something he barely registers anymore.

He walks out the bathroom and to their bedroom, toes sinking into the same carpet they touched a couple hours before but feeling warmer now, more grounded.

Still not wanting to disrupt the peace too much, he pulls the curtain back slowly and with as little noise as possible. Sunlight streams into the room, over discarded socks on the floor, the bookshelf, the music stand right next to it. The light is accompanied by a protesting groan from the bed.

Andy is still firmly wrapped in the blankets, hair sticking up in a mess against the pillow. He garbles something into the sheets that might be something like “close the damn curtains” or “fuck off” or perhaps just gibberish, it’s always hard to tell with Andy in the morning.

Eddie walks over to the bed, placing one arm on each side of Andy’s blanket cocoon. He carefully tugs the blanket down a little, just enough to reveal Andy’s face, his eyes shut tightly and brow furrowed.

“Morning,” Eddie says, voice low. He kisses Andy’s temple softly.

Andy makes another incoherent sound of protest, not as loud this time. Not quite as disgruntled. The lines on his forehead smooth out. Unlike the laughter lines around his eyes, which have become permanent.

Eddie presses his nose against Andy’s cheek, nudging him a little.

It gets Andy to wiggle and shift a little until he’s lying on his back, revealing a pillow crease all along his left cheek. He cracks one eye open and wrinkles his nose before shutting his eyes again.

“Hrmph,” he says.

Cautiously keeping his balance even with only one arm for support, Eddie reaches out and runs a hand through Andy’s disheveled hair, gently pushing a few rebellious strands out of Andy’s face.

Andy hums.

“Don’t go back to sleep,” Eddie warns, but doesn’t cease the motion for another moment. “I’m gonna get breakfast started. Coffee’ll be ready in five.” He props himself up on both arms again. “Think you can do the same?”

“‘n try,” Andy responds, half to Eddie and half into the blanket.

Eddie presses a kiss on Andy’s left cheek before he gets up off the bed and makes his way downstairs.

 

:

 

Predictably, it takes more than ten minutes. Eddie doesn’t mind.

He turns on the kitchen radio, volume turned low, the mellow tunes a calming background noise for the sounds of pulling pans and utensils and ingredients out of the cabinets and having the coffee maker do its duty.

The clock on the microwave says it’s just past ten and they have nothing planned for the day besides doing the school work they neglected over the week. Might as well take time for breakfast, make eggs for himself and pancakes for Andy. Eddie’s feeling like savoury food but Andy’s sweet tooth wants to be indulged on a day like this.

He prepares two mugs of coffee, puts one of them on the counter and takes the other one with him to the stove so he can take a sip before pouring pancake batter into the pan. While it sizzles, he holds on to the mug and turns around, looking at the ray of sun feeling its way through the window and into the corner of the kitchen where the basil stands on the window sill. In another couple of minutes it’ll reach the counter.

The radio plays a new song and Eddie focuses his attention back on breakfast.

Andy walks in on socked feet just as Eddie flips the pancake to its other side.

“Hey,” Eddie says over his shoulder, lowering the pan back onto the stovetop.

Before saying anything, Andy comes up behind him and slings his arm around Eddie’s middle. The tip of his nose is cold when it brushes against Eddie’s neck.

Eddie smiles.

“Morning,” Andy mumbles into the space between Eddie’s ear and shoulder. “How was your run? Where’s the dog?”

Eddie lays down the spatula so he can touch Andy’s forearm, feel the warm skin under his. “Was good,” he says. “Really nice out. I think Luna’s on the porch, recharging in the sun.”

“You running her ragged?” Andy tightens his grip around Eddie slightly, squeezing before letting up again.

“Nah.” Eddie chuckles softly. “Try the other way around, maybe.” He pats Andy’s arm. “You gonna let me finish breakfast, babe? I need a little more room to maneuver if you want these pancakes.”

Sighing, Andy lets go and steps backs. “Love a provider. Where’s the - coffee, okay found it, nevermind.”

Eddie feels more than sees Andy leave his side and walk to the counter opposite him where Andy’s coffee mug is waiting. He plates pancake number one, pours batter for a second one into the pan, and makes sure his eggs aren’t getting burned. An unexpected sound has him turn around.

Next to his mug, Andy has heaved himself onto the counter, legs in checkered pyjamas dangling freely.

“We make food there,” Eddie states mildly.

“We clean here,” Andy responds in the same manner, reaching for his mug and taking a big gulp. He looks comfortable, like the space was made for him, like it were making room just for Andy to sit there in his pyjamas and uncombed hair and soft-sleepy eyes.

Eddie lets him be.

He turns his back to Andy so he can flip the second pancake. “You know,” he says, grabbing the toast out of the breadbasket, “we went to this field by the river - I think the three of us went there in the summer - and -” he slips two slices of toast into the toaster “- looks like someone put a soccer goal there.”

Andy makes a surprised noise. “Really?”

Eddie throws a quick look over his shoulder. “Really.” He smiles, facing the stove and transferring his eggs from the pan to a plate. “Like, a small one, about chest-height. Self-made too, you can see the planks nailed together and all. I’m thinking it might be one of your kids from the team.”

From his perch, Andy hums contemplatively.

The toaster pops and Eddie adds the toast to his plate.

“Interesting. Yeah, might be,” Andy says at last. “Not what our youth was like, huh? Why did that never occur to us? We just made do with the trees and water bottles.”

Curving his back and slouching, Eddie says jokingly, “Back in my day…”

Andy laughs softly.

Eddie leans his hip against the countertop while Andy takes another sip of coffee. “I don’t know why we never thought of that,” he says, grabbing the spatula. “But it worked out for us alright, I’d say.”

“Oh, for sure,” Andy agrees. “Far be it from me to complain about one of the best parts of my adolescence.”

Smiling, Eddie adds the second pancake to Andy’s plate. “It was pretty damn good.” He turns around, gesturing with the spatula. “You want another one?”

“Yes, please,” Andy says. “But first -” he sets his mug aside and stretches out his arms “- come here.”

“Food’s gonna get cold,” Eddie points out, but takes the pan off the burner and puts the spatula down at the same time.

“That’s what microwaves are for,” Andy says.

He opens his legs a little wider so Eddie can step between them. Eddie’s arms come around Andy’s waist as he leans his head against Andy’s chest, close to his heart. He has to move his head a little but quickly finds the perfect spot.

Andy wraps his arms around Eddie’s shoulders, brushing his thumb over the vertebrae of Eddie’s neck before resting his cheek against the top of Eddie’s head. Eddie can feel him smile.

Andy’s body is warm against Eddie’s face and chest, his shirt smelling like lazy days on the couch and breakfast in bed. Eddie relaxes his shoulders, allows his body to just hold on and be held, the sound Andy’s heartbeat in his ear.

The warmth on his back tells him the sun has wandered further, is shining right on them now, enveloping them in a sea of light.

Eddie closes his eyes and breathes.


End file.
